It is known to produce a self-propelled upright vacuum cleaner by providing a transmission in the foot or lower portion of the vacuum cleaner for selectively driving at least one drive wheel in forward rotation and reverse rotation to propel the vacuum cleaner in forward and reverse directions over a floor. A handgrip is commonly mounted to the top of the upper housing in a sliding fashion for limited reciprocal motion relative to the upper housing as a user pushes and pulls on the handgrip to direct the movement of the vacuum cleaner 10. A Bowden type control cable typically extends from the hand grip to the transmission for transferring the pushing and pulling forces applied to the hand grip by the user to the transmission, which selectively actuates a forward drive clutch and a reverse drive clutch of the transmission so as to propel the vacuum cleaner 10 in similar directions.
However, such arrangements provide little or no flexibility in providing for controlling the speed of the propulsion drive motor. That is, the vacuum cleaner typically tends to abruptly move forward and backward, in coordination with the movement of the handgrip. This results in a vacuum that is difficult for the average user to effectively control and maneuver. For example, in environments, such as a living room or bedroom, where the vacuum encounters many obstacles in its path it may be especially difficult for the user to exercise precise control so at to prevent the vacuum cleaner from colliding with such obstacles. Moreover, the abrupt movements of the vacuum cleaner may cause physical injury to the user of the vacuum cleaner as well.
Therefore, there is a need for a self-propelled vacuum cleaner that provides a programmable control system that can control the movement of the vacuum cleaner in accordance with various response characteristics. Furthermore, there is a need for a self-propelled vacuum cleaner that provides a programmable control system that controls the movement of the vacuum cleaner in accordance with a logistic function based response characteristic. In addition, there is a need for a self-propelled vacuum cleaner that includes a selection switch that allows an operator to select a desired response characteristic that is to be used to control the vacuum cleaner. Still yet, there is a need for a self-propelled vacuum cleaner that includes a response button that allows an operator to adjust the responsiveness of a particular response characteristic.